Angel: Vampire Anthology DVD Collection

This is a collection of four DVDs, one for each of Angel's chorus of fellow demon hunters. Cordelia "Cordy" Chase - Angel's "Girl Friday" - Wesley Wyndham-Price - who joins the show as a self-proclaimed "Rogue Demon Hunter"- a streetwise vamp killer, Charles Gunn, and Winifred "Fred" Burkle - a dimension-hopping meta-physicist.

It is unclear whether the four episodes on each DVD were chosen by the studio or the actors, although one suspects the latter. The episodes are taken from seasons 1 to 4 and in the case of Cordy and Wesley it seems to be one episode from each season.

The episodes chosen are all very strong with good performances, tight scripts and solid character development. But there is a problem. One of the features of the Angel series was its continuity, with great story arcs reaching across seasons and - in the case of the whole war against evil law firm Wolfram and Hart - the entire run of the show. The problem with selective anthologies such as this is that this continuity is lost. This means that for people unfamiliar with Angel these discs are an interesting taster but confusing, suggesting that the target audience is die-hard fans.

Of course, if you are a fan and have all the season episodes continuity won't be a problem. But then, if you have all the season sets, what on earth would persuade you to part with your hard-earned cash for this rehash?

Only for fans obsessed with completeness... if this isn't you and you're new to the series, I recommend you either rent this as a taster or get hold of a copy of Season One of Buffy or Angel and start from there.